Preserving Your Farmer’s Market Bounty!

By Kristen Tice-Ziesmer

For the shoppers out there always looking for the next great idea, here it is. All of your favorite fruits and veggies that you love so much on these hot summer days can still be enjoyed during the cold winter months, all you need is a freezer. Fruits and vegetables are cheaper when in season so stock up on all your favorites and save them for later. According to Fooodsafety.gov, foods stored at a constant 0°F are always safe to eat. Just to be sure to enjoy them at their best, plan to use your foods within a year.

The Tips to Freezing:

1. Fruit– wash, peel, seed, pit and prepare your fruit into whatever shape you’ll want it later. For apples, peaches, apricots and nectarines- mix ½ teaspoon ascorbic acid (vitamin C) with 3 Tablespoons water for every quart of prepared fruit then toss the fruit with the mixture. This will keep your fresh fruits fresh and stop them from ripening or browning.  Then, just lay your fruit flat on a cookie sheet and let them freeze overnight. In the morning, pack all your fruits together in freezer bags or containers making sure there is a little air, if possible, in your containers.
2. Herbs- wash and de-stem all that you want to freeze and then quickly put the herbs in a blender with a bit of water to get a thin paste. Then place the mixture in an ice tray and let it freeze overnight. In the morning, pop out the cubes and place them in bags for later use.
3. Vegetables– wash, pare and cut the vegetables. Then blanch them (boil the food very briefly, until it’s tender but barely cooked, then immediately plunge into ice water). Blanching vegetables prevents discoloration and toughing in the freezer.

However, some fruits and vegetables just aren’t up for the challenge so here are some examples of each that are safe to freeze and not safe to freeze:

• Fruits to Freeze: strawberries, blueberries, raspberries,
• Fruits not to Freeze: oranges, grapefruit, lemons, limes, tomatoes
• Maybe Freeze: apricots, cantaloupe, honeydew, mangoes,  peaches, plums, rhubarb, sour cherries
• Vegetables to Freeze: corn, herbs, sweet peas, sugar snap peas,
• Vegetables not to Freeze: beets, cabbage, carrots, celery, cucumbers, eggplant, onions, lettuce, potatoes, radishes, summer squash and zucchini
• Maybe Freeze: asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, spinach

Produce in season right now in South Carolina:

• Cabbage– high nutritious value with such a low calorie cost.
• Cantaloupe-excellent source of Vitamin C and potassium.
• Corn– for fuller flavor and more nutrients try stone- ground cornmeal.
• Cucumbers– avoid the tasteless thick-skinned and wax coated cucumbers commonly found in grocery stores and try some of the various cucumber varieties at your local market.
• Oysters-healthy oysters will respond to a tap on their shell or a dousing of cold water by clamping shut
• Peaches– high in nutrients and also have important phytochemicals that are great for your skin.
• Scallions-more commonly known as spring/ green onions and are commonly used for added flavoring. They are in high content of many nutrients such as Vitamin A, Vitamin C, calcium, iron and potassium.
• Snap Peas– only about 5% of peas are sold fresh so go out and get yourself a healthy snack from the farmers market. They are excellent source of vitamin C and vitamin K.
• Squash-low in calories but very high in Vitamins and Minerals.
• Tomatoes– one tomato can contribute 40% of the Vitamin C you need per day. Also contains many other vitamins that we need.